Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' draft sells for $2M

Sotheby's calls it record for pop music manuscript

A working draft of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” one of the most popular songs of all time. The draft sold for more than $2 million at auction.ASSOCIATED PRESSEnlarge

NEW YORK — One of the most popular songs of all time, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” has been sold at auction for more than $2 million.

Sotheby’s offered the working draft of the finished song in Dylan’s own hand for auction today. It says the selling price is a world record for a popular music manuscript. It includes a buyer’s premium.

The draft is written in pencil on four sheets of hotel letterhead stationery with revisions, additions, notes and doodles.

Dylan was only 24 when he recorded the song in 1965.

The song is about a debutante who becomes a loner when she’s cast from upper-class social circles.

The auction house says it is “the only known surviving draft of the final lyrics for this transformative rock anthem.”

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